ABSTRACT
Additives play a crucial role in imparting taste, colour and fragrance to food products, and synthetic food additives have long been used in food industries, but research has now indicated that certain of these additives are toxic to consumers. Therefore, there is a prime need for developing safe potential alternatives to synthetic food additives. Pigments obtained from natural sources such as animals, plants and microbes are a promising alternative to synthetic food additives. Among natural sources, microbes that thrive in extreme environments are a promising source of natural food additives as they are easy to handle and genetically manipulate, are amenable to large-scale production and show little impact on biodiversity. This chapter deals with the microbial pigments that are used as food additives and their flavouring properties. The chapter also provides insights into production and optimization strategies used for pigment production, challenges and the future scopes of microbial pigment in the era of 3D printed foods.
